Renovations bring new life to student bedrooms

There’s a great amount of excitement that comes with refurbishing, and a new capital works project already underway at International House is set to provide an internal refresh to the older rooms of the college.

Due for completion by early 2020, the project will cost an estimated $3 million over five years and will strip and refit the student rooms, tutor apartments and shared bathrooms in first-year buildings Clunies, Wadham and Scheps.

Work on the project has already commenced and the rooms on level four of Wadham and levels three, four and five of Scheps are complete, and have been brought to life with new furniture, wall hangings and carpet.

A newly renovated student room on the fourth floor of Wadham

Erasing the visible signs of wood veneer that the 1960s and 70s were famous for, the rooms have been given a modern finish, and past and current students alike are thrilled at the result. No doubt our alumni remember the days when these rooms were brand new, and may look back wistfully on their own time at the House.

But it’s no easy feat to renovate college rooms, and the project will stretch out during the Australian summer breaks for the next three and a half years as the remaining rooms on the first, second and third floors of Scheps, and the remaining floors of Wadham and Clunies are completed.

Before and after: the end result of renovations to a room in Scheps over the 2015-16 Australian summer break

The project is vital to our ongoing commitment to provide high quality residential facilities for students from Australia and overseas, who can continue to live and learn together and celebrate intercultural harmony.

The International House Director of Finance and Business Development Mr David O’Hanrahan said the project will enable International House to solidify its position as a leading student accommodation provider in Melbourne.

“Student room renovations is an expensive exercise and there has been significant planning involved in the lead up to this project,” he said.

“The end result will be contemporary student and tutor rooms and common bathrooms that exceed students' expectations of a University of Melbourne residential college.”

International House was built on the imagination of our idealistic founders who saw the need to inspire an international outlook in young people. We sincerely thank our donors for their generosity and benevolence, which will assist International House to continue this philosophy into the future.